Last night I made the big mistake of watching the first episode of "Thief" with Andre Braugher on FX....now I have to watch it every damn week! It was really good. Andre Braugher is just an excellent actor. I loved him on Homicide: Life on the Streets(which is easily one of the best cop shows ever..screw "NYPD BLUE"). He was definitely Emmy worthy on that show, I have no idea if he ever was nominated or won. Frank Pembleton. What a character. I also took away from that show one of my favorite quotes. When his partner Bayliss got weirded out by a crime that involved S&M and said that he couldn't understand how people could be so dark, Pembleton says "You can't have light without darkness." He was just so intense on that show. And here he is in this new show playing a thief with a crew and some new serious problems. And he was, as usual, great. The show sort of has a "Sopranos" feel, with Braugher as Tony, trying to balance family and crime. But in the first episode it just went off the rails and he is deep in it. Excellent.

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I really can't say it any more simpler than this: This show is crazy. Completely crazy. It is completely off the rails with insanity. Last night's episode had torture, kissing, shootings, stranglings, explosions,HUGE explosions, more insane CTU workers, Jack punching three more CTU security guards, Jack getting tasered AGAIN...wow, just all out nuttiness. When I saw the trailer for the episode I said to myself " There's no way they can squeeze all that in an hour..." But damned if they didn't. Of course, I still have some questions...like where did Wayne Palmer get that rifle? I asked three people and they also don't remember him getting his hands on one. Also, the last episode ended with that woman telling Jack that she got the plans from Audrey Raines. Then this episode opens pretty much with Jack and the woman arriving at CTU...what, did they beam there? I know they take liberties with L.A. traffic but this is ridiculous. Also, Peter Weller's character setting up Audrey Raines makes no sense whatsoever. They try to explain it away but it doesn't track. But even with all of that, this episode was hilarious. Hats off the Keifer Sutherland for doing his own "Running from the explosions" stunts, unless it was a guy with a Sutherland mask on a la Arnold on the motorcycle in T2. Looked like him...and it looked cool. Jack blows up a Natural Gas site..lol..what next for the Über Bauer?

EPISODE 10 P.M. TO 11 P.M. (Episode 15)

DEATH BY SHOOTING: 10 SEASON TOTAL: 52
BY JACK: 4 SEASON TOTAL: 13

DEATH BY STRANGLING: 2 SEASON TOTAL: 3
BY JACK: 0 SEASON TOTAL: 1

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Well. as far as I can remember, this is the first episode of 24 to not have ANY fatalities in it. I need someone to verify that for me. That would be incredible if true. But it was still a very entertaining episode. Jack playing that German agent was actually pretty cool. Jack coming up with some ol' Mission Impossible sh*t...I have one question though... exactly how long is that road from the checkpoint to the President's compound? President Palmer's brother was on that thing for half the show! Damn... So I guess a van full of assassins inside of the compound confirms that there are still some higher ups involved in this plot, most likely that sneaky ass Vice-President... We'll see...And I am not buying this Audrey Raines stuff...seems like a plot device to drive a wedge(another one) between them...at least I hope so...other wise it doesn't make sense.

EPISODE 9 P.M. TO 10 P.M. (Episode 14)

NO FATALITIES (still can't believe it...)

Wow...On the CIC Battlestar Galactica fansite they asked for fan reviews of the finale and I sent mine in....and they posted it.That was nice....

http://galacticacic.blogspot.com/

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That was a particularly rough epsiode of 24...If this show keeps going at this rate, it'll be a one-man CTU division. They knock off folks on this show like it's nothing. I can't think of another TV show that has killed more recurring characters than this one. Lynn McGill's death was actually very powerful. Watching him twitch on the floor and foam at the mouth was pretty rugged. And musically, the scene was very well done too. I like the music for the show. It's all over the map but it works. A couple of episodes ago they had this cool harder edged gutar going on in a scene that sounded really cool. I'm not sure how the music would stand up by itself on a soundtrack cd but I might have to pick it up.
And is Tony officially dead? Wow...he didn't want to live anymore. But he let Peter Weller go onto Robocop sleep mode and then bumrush him. Not cool...Jack is gonna shoot, stab and bludgeon him when he catches up to that bastard. Maybe Jack can take him to the hospital and make him watch as he shoots the rest of his wife's limbs. That might have to be his punishment. Well, part of it anyway....
My friend and I were joking about Jack. My man goes out into a nerve gas filled area by holding his breath and putting his hood up...lol...that's a bad man. Jack Bauer can walk on the sun. I might have to send that to the Jack Bauer Facts site...

EPISODE 8 P.M. TO 9 P.M. (Episode 13)

DEATH BY POISONING (NERVE GAS): 50 SEASON TOTAL: 68

DEATH BY INJECTION: 1 SEASON TOTAL: 1

My nerve gas numbers come from Bill Buchanon saying that he needed 55 people to come in to replace his lost staff. I subtracted the seven that I put last week and added two more, Lynn McGill and the security officer ("I'm ok!! I'm ok!! Oh, wait..."). So that's about as accurate as I can be with that...

Friday night saw the season finale of Battlestar Galactica...and it was worth the wait. Only a handful of shows would dare to jump one year ahead in the last half-hour and make it work. Initially, I was against it. I wanted to see what everyone had done in that year, I didn't want to miss out on a year's worth of stories. But that was the point: There were no real stories, no real movement. Everything pretty much ground to a halt once colonization of the new planet begun. It was cool to see some of the changes. Cally pregnant, Dualla is a Lt., Helo serving in the CIC. but that's just window dressing. They all let themselves go...and now they have to pay the price.
I also liked how they didn't create a new utopia, a beautiful new home. The place looked like Farmers Market in a Seattle park. It really reflected how human these characters are. They escape from genocide and manage to hide from the Cylons and the same old human trivialites come forth. They forgot what bound them together and fell back on what they know. Sorta like this country with 9/11. Everyone was united and then the same ol' bickering started. So it was really interesting to see that the same has happened here. And then the Cylons, after a year of silence, come back. They let them get fat and careless and distracted and came right back to take advantage of it. As 6 says when the Cylons were flying overhead, "Judgement Day". This continues the theme that started in the mini-series with Commander Adama's speech at the Galactica decomissioning. Do we deserve to go on? Are we all on the wrong path and subject to be harshly judged? The Cylons sought out genocide the first time for the wayward Children of God, to pay for our sins. And once again they are back. (And it's Baltar's fault AGAIN...He's gonna two more 6's in his head to deal with this...) Only, what do they want now? They have a new agenda and it's frightening to imagine what they want this time. And a skeleton crew aboard the Galactica and Pegasus will be hard pressed to deal with this. President Baltar has really done it now...I can't wait to see how they get out of this. Half of next season will have to be devoted to it...Excellent.

Just in time for the season finale of the great Battlestar Galactica, here's my Commander..oh sorry, ADMIRAL Adama...it's ok...I need to add a little more life to my work. It's gotten a little stiff. I have to let myself go more...

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Wow...two hours of "24" last night...and they had everything you could ask for from 24...When Jack shot Peter Weller's wife in the leg I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Jack is a bad man...and I love how insane Keifer Sutherland looked...he truly looked crazed in that scene. That is in my top three of great Jack Bauer moments. My man Jack...
Curtis running through the hospital with the nerve gas cannister was cool...but if I directed that episode...I would have so many poeple upset. I would've had Curtis barreling through the hospital and an old man with a walker crossing his path. Curtis would just yell "Make a hole!" and completely run the guy over...the guy would've just been crushed and Curtis would keep running. That would've been hilarious, funnier than Jack shooting that chick in the leg. I really wish they had done that..lol..
And the whole CTU nerve gas thing..wow... Every season they have a mole infiltrate that place...or blow it up..but they make it exciting every year. This was wild. People running around dying from the nerve gas...and Edgar. Edgar Stiles is dead. (That would make a nice name for a band). See now, if he were 70 or 80 pounds lighter he would've made it back in time. lol...What a moment, when Chloe sees Edgar out there. She looked heartbroken...and they dropped out that clock sound too. They do that only when something powerful happens...
And the great President Logan...this guy is hilarious. The Vice-President comes in and already has half of his plan in motion before even talking to Logan. Logan has no balls whatsoever. Any jackass can walk in with a plan and he'll listen to it. My friend Tony and I were joking that a guy could come in and say "Mr. President, I've started to initiate a plan for us to get out of this situation. We would build rocket ships and the entire administration would evacuate to Jupiter." And Mike Novick would be like " Mr. President, I don't think that's a feasible plan.." And Logan would interrupt and say " Hold on, Mike, hold on a second...now...how long would you need to build these rocket ships?" What a knucklehead...

EPISODE 6 P.M. TO 7 P.M. and 7 P.M. TO 8 P.M. (Episode 11 and 12)

DEATH BY SHOOTING: 5 SEASON TOTAL: 42
BY JACK: 1 SEASON TOTAL: 9

DEATH BY STABBING: 1 SEASON TOTAL: 4
BY JACK: 0 SEASON TOTAL: 2

DEATH BY POISONING (NERVE GAS): 7 (ON SCREEN) SEASON TOTAL: 18

I know a lot more people died from the nerve gas...on the trailer for next week it said CTU lost 40% of their people, however many those were. But I just counted what I saw. I hope to have some definite numbers on that next week...

My littlle guy...

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Once again, "24" proves that no other show mixes brutal violence with laugh-out-loud hilarity like this one does....often in the same scene. When the Secret Service guy shot the gas tank on flamethrower guy's back and it exploded I burst out laughing. Especially when the guy knows what's coming...very funny. The entire attack on the motorcade was really well done. It was handled very well, the tenseness leading up to it. I thought for sure there would be more fatalities but people lucked out big time. President Logan is, without a doubt, the funniest character on television and the worst President imaginable(considering our present condition as a country that may be debatable). His wormy, ineffectual and whiny act is hilarious week in and week out, and Mike Novick looks like he will eventually strangle him. I don't know how much more respect he could possibly lose for the man.... I love how Jack escaped the bomb that he got set up for. Peter Weller screwed up, though. He should've MADE SURE that Jack was dead. Now my man has a definite problem. I do have one question, though...does Peter Weller's character always stand behind the door and wait to Taser some poor sap that comes into the room? The cleaning crew must refuse to get his trash...lol...


EPISODE 4 P.M. TO 5 P.M. (Episode 10)


DEATH BY SHOOTING: 6 SEASON TOTAL: 37
BY JACK: 0 SEASON TOTAL: 8

DEATH BY EXPLOSION:2 SEASON TOTAL: 6
BY JACK: 0 SEASON TOTAL: 1

Well, they stated that 11 people definitely died from the nerve gas released in the mall, so that's solidified. And Jack is down to 22% of the total shooting fatalities...no good. Gotta get that percentage up, Jack!